Thursday, July 29, 2004

WILMINGTON, NC— Ground was broken Thursday, July 29, for the latest construction project on the UNCW campus — the Computer Information Systems Building.

The building will house the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM) in the Cameron School of Business and the Department of Computer Science in the College of Arts and Sciences. The two departments are working together to develop a unique, interdisciplinary graduate program that will begin in Fall 2005. The program is anticipated to merge core competencies required by both information systems and computer science professionals into one cohesive program.

The $11.9 million, 51,000-square-foot building will capitalize on the latest technologies. In addition to classroom and faculty offices, the facility will feature a room similar to the New York Stock Exchange Trading Room.

Schools of business are beginning to create complete financial centers for both instruction and for “mock trading” purposes. The trading room will allow individual accounts for students and faculty to track their portfolios and a way to provide and display real-time data. It may also feature:

• Stock quotes and ticker

• Market averages and indices

• Market news stories

• NASDAQ Level II screens

• Charting

• Price and news alerts

The Computer Information Systems Building has some unique features such as multidisciplinary, hands-on laboratories; dynamically re-configurable research and instructional spaces; students “sandboxes” to facilitate team-based collaborative learning; hands-on exploration laboratory showcasing emerging technologies; electronic trading room, Net-centric computing (all of computing is interconnected and organized around the Internet); mobile computing environment; electronic information kiosks with an emphasis on personalized interaction; and high-speed network connectivity via all-fiber backbone throughout the building.

Boney Architects from Wilmington designed the project, and the contractors are Clancy and Theys Construction from Wilmington.

Participating in the ceremony were Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo, Chair of UNCW Trustees Jeff Etheridge Jr., Interim Provost Paul Hosier, computer science student Charles E. White II and representatives of the architect and contracting firms.